 Expert - David Thiselton | |
|---|---|
| David Thiselton grew up not far from South Africa's main training centre, Summerveld, as a child and has been following racing since Mazarin won the 1971 Durban July. His knowledge of racing included a total of five years living in the UK where he ate and slept the sport. His formal entry into the industry was in 2006 when joining Gold Circle as a racing journalist and over the ensuing 18 years he has won three Equus Print Media awards. | |
Expert Column for Gold Challenge (S1-1) (David Thiselton)
S1-1 Gold Challenge
The G1 Gold Challenge over 1,600m to be run at Greyville on June 8 will see the best from South Africa clashing and will be the race of the season.
MAIN DEFENDER has swept all before him this season with the exception of a defeat over the too sharp 1,200m when he needed the run. He did have an interruption to his program when scratched from his last intended start. However, he has never had a problem producing his best when running fresh. He was an impressive 2.75 length winner of the G1 Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1,600m in his last start on 2nd March, where he beat DAVE THE KING by an easy 2.75 lengths. He has a tremendous turn of foot. That asset is vital at the tight Greyville track. He has a plum draw and should be all set to produce another world class performance.
LUCKY LAD is fast becoming a legend in South Africa, thanks to the unbelievable burst of speed he is capable of producing. He is a horse who seems to know where the line is and can make up a seemingly insurmountable amount of ground in the closing stages. However, to date he has only done that over sprints. He had a successful wind operation that delayed his start to this season. The first time he tried this trip was as a 2YO, and nothing went his way as he suffered a torrid passage from the off. A line can be drawn through that run and his fans can't wait to see whether he can produce another breathtaking finish after being dropped out and relaxing at the back in the running.
It is pointless trying to hold DAVE THE KING back as it just robs him of using his best asset, his enormous stride. However, he has settled with gelding, so the best scenario will see him stretching them out in front without overdoing it. If able to do that he will not be easy to catch in the straight such is the length of his stride. He has 2.75 lengths to make up on MAIN DEFENDER from the G1 Horse Chestnut Stakes at Turffontein. However, this tighter track might give him a better chance.
SEE IT AGAIN is best suited to middle distances, but has run an outstanding race over this trip before when running fresh, as he will be doing here. He won the G2 Green Point Stakes in superb style following a layoff and will be out to repeat that effort here. However, the detractor is his below par last two runs in the G1 King's Plate, where he finished second, but did not have his usual spark, and his hugely disappointing fourth in the G1 Cape Town Met over 2,000m, where he was clearly not his normal self. Nothing officially could be found wrong with him, but the horses stabled around him in Cape Town at that time were also not performing up to expectations generally speaking. He has been working well and could bounce back here.
SANDRINGHAM SUMMIT won the G1 Champion Stakes over course and distance as a 2YO, beating MAIN DEFENDER by 2 lengths in world class fashion. He gets a good draw here, but has not done quite as well as MAIN DEFENDER has this season. He has had things to go against him, like a run in the G2 Dingaans where he was hampered early and left with an enormous amount of ground to make up. His gallant effort to make up the ground that day might have taken a bit out of him. Although he has performed well since, he has run below expectations once or twice. He has already been syndicated for stud and this might be the second last start of his career. The jury is out on whether he can reproduce his best because it will need to be better than his last start, where he was beaten narrowly into second in the KZN Guineas over this course and distance.
SELECTIONS: 3. MAIN DEFENDER, 11. LUCKY LAD, 6. DAVE THE KING, 9. SEE IT AGAIN & 4. SANDRINGHAM SUMMIT
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